Tim Atkin MW: Valuing our old vines

Call it serendipity, call it fate, but there are times when events and conversations seem to align. You go for months without thinking about something and then it’s everywhere, filling your inbox and your brain. Spooky, possums, as Dame Edna Everage once put it.

Walker & Wodehouse unveils virtual tastings

Bibendum’s Walker & Wodehouse has unveiled a series of virtual tastings for customers.

Guy Woodward: Challenging the wine nerd herd

It’s when the first question about clone types crops up that I begin to despair; or a query as to the length of time the juice spent macerating on its own skins. Or – kill me now – the wine’s exact pH level.

Steven Spurrier passes away

Steven Spurrier, one of the most widely respected and liked people in the wine trade, has passed away.

The dark and light of rum

Harpers’ recent consumer tasting panel revealed a category that is yet to emerge from its mixology-focused reputation. But rapidly growing awareness and availability of quality liquid mean it could soon sit on a par with top-level Cognac and whisky. Jo Gilbert gets the 360° view.

Tring Winery packs a postable punch

Alex Taylor and Jamie Smith of Urban Craft Wines at Tring Winery are sending innovation out the door, as Andrew Catchpole reports

Paving the way back to tasting

Special IXSIR and Enotria tasting organises relief for Lebanon

Etienne Debbané, president and co-founder of IXSIR will be hosting a special tasting on Enotria’s Instagram page tomorrow (Thursday), with 50% of the proceeds going to relief efforts for Lebanon.

Graft bolsters Australia and South African portfolios as it gears up for digital tasting

Graft Wine, last year’s merger of Red Squirrel and The Knotted Vine, is gearing up for a bumper month of activity in September, with two Southern Hemisphere additions joining the company as it takes its autumn tasting online.

Welsh Wine Week to launch with online tasting

Welsh Wine Week will launch with an online tasting led by wine experts Charlie Womersley and Oz Clarke OBE, who will be joined by iconic Welsh performer Max Boyce.

Liv-Ex unveils plans for coverage of ‘unusual’ Bordeaux EP campaign

With the Bordeaux 2019 En Primeur campaign beginning to unfold in an “unusual manner” with virtual tastings and postponed releases, Liv-Ex has begun to roll out adapted coverage with the publication of its opening report, Bordeaux 2019: the value of time.

WoSA launches ‘Spectacular South Africa’ campaign

As Cape wine exports pick up post the ban in April, Wines of South Africa (WoSA) is launching a new campaign on social media to promote “Spectacular South Africa”.

Rathfinny’s 10th anniversary delivers Classic Cuvée launch and new ecommerce site

English wine estate Rathfinny marked its 10th anniversary with the launch of its inaugural 2016 Classic Cuvée on Monday, “completing” its line up of Sussex sparkling wines.

Tim Atkin MW: A taste of things to come?

Everyone seems to have advice about how to get through lockdown. Even if we’re all still sitting here in December, our diaries emptier than your local Wetherspoons, I can’t imagine the well-meaning guidance changing much. Eat healthily, exercise, take up a new hobby, read a book, tidy your cupboards, call your friends and family, order food online.

Generics respond to the pandemic: Wines of Chile

In the third of a series focusing on responses of the generic bodies to the current crisis, we talk to Anita Jackson, UK director, Wines of Chile

Big Fortified Tasting latest coronavirus casualty

The Big Fortified Tasting is the latest trade tasting to be cancelled in the wake of the deepening coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.

Wines from Spain annual tasting postponed

Wines from Spain has announced that it will postpone its annual tasting. The event, planned to take place at Sky Garden on March 31 will be moved to a later date. 

Washington State reaffirms commitment to UK

Despite a wave of cancelled trade events elsewhere, Washington State went ahead with its London tasting yesterday, with the message that the UK remains at the heart of its export focus.

Top Selection wins entire Duckhorn range

London-based wine merchant Top Selection is to distribute the whole portfolio of US producer Duckhorn in the UK.

Q&A: Anne-Catherine Vigouroux, French Wine Discoveries

Founder of Wine 4 Trade Anne-Catherine Vigouroux outlines to James Lawrence what visitors can expect from the French Wine Discoveries 2020 tasting on January 21, and the opportunities for French producers in a post-Brexit Britain